1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to fishhooks and more specifically to fishhooks used in combination with artificial fishing lures. The fishhook has an eyelet and sinker specially designed so that the artificial lure hides the entire fishhook except for the protruding eyelet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a plethora of prior art patents showing fishhooks designed to be used both with and without artificial lures. In practice, these prior art devices all have shortcomings that make their use either impractical or ineffective.
Fairly typical of the prior art fishhooks and artificial lures is the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,514 to Begley. The sinker extends beyond the end of the shank and eyelet so that the eyelet protrudes from the side of the sinker. As the Begley device is retrieved, it is easily snaggable on any weeds or foreign object in the water. The barb extends outside the body of the artificial lure which also makes it amenable to snagging on weeds and foreign objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,291 to Iffland et al. discloses a tapered sinker with an eyelet extending out of the end of the sinker, but this fishhook is not used in connection with an artificial lure. This fishhook sits on the bottom of a lake and is not designed to be retrieved during the actual course of fishing.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,987 to Perrin discloses a fishhook combined with an artificial lure. Again the barb of the fishhook extends outside the body of the lure. The sinker is formed as an integral part of the head of the lure thereby prohibiting rapid substitution of a different artificial lure on the same fishhook.